Mary Amanda McNeil
Academic Leave
Research/Areas of Interest
Native American and Indigenous studies; Black studies; social history; environmental history; geography; and visual and material culture studies
Education
- BA, Wheelock College, Boston, United States, 2014
- PhD, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States, 2023
Biography
Hello! My name is Mary Amanda McNeil (she/her/hers), and I am Mellon Assistant Professor in the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora at Tufts University. I am a citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe with deep kinship ties to the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah, and I was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky's West End. I received my PhD in American Studies from Harvard University in 2023 and my BA in American Studies and History from Wheelock College in 2014.
My teaching, writing, and curatorial interests sit at the intersections of Native American and Indigenous studies; Black studies; social history; environmental history; geography; and visual and material culture studies, with an especial focus on the Northeast. My dissertation, "The Responsibility to Remain: Black Power and Red Power Geographies of Massachusetts" examined the spatial of imaginaries of Black, Indigenous, and Afro-Indigenous political actors during the "long" Black Power/Red Power Era. I am currently working on a book project that examines the complicated relationship between environmentalism and settler-colonialism in Wampanoag homelands and homewaters. My work has been deeply informed and supported by many, including friends and relatives; the Forge Project; the Center for the Humanities at Tufts; Trinity Social Justice Institute and the Ann Plato Dissertation Fellowship at Trinity College; the Harvard University Native American Program; the Mellon Sawyer Fellowship at Tufts University; and the Charles Warren Center for the Study of American History at Harvard University. You can find my individual and collective writing in: Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art; NAIS: Journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association; Boston Art Review; Motif Magazine; HowlRound Theatre Commons, and New England Museums Now.
A public-humanities practitioner and almost-art school kid, I am part-time Museum Coordinator for the Aquinnah Cultural Center, an organization whose mission is to "preserve, educate, and document the Aquinnah Wampanoag self-defined history, culture and contributions past, present and future." I also sit on the board of the Royall House and Slave Quarters, one of the last standing living quarters for enslaved persons in the US North; and on the advisory council for Tufts University Art Galleries' regional artist regranting program "Collective Futures Fund." I have also collaborated with Design Studio for Social Innovation (DS4SI); The Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University; Tufts University Art Galleries; the University of Arkansas School of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts-Boston; the Framingham History Center; and the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at Tufts University.
I split my time between Boston and Nôepe (the island commonly referred to as Martha's Vineyard), and in my spare time, I like to take walks; go to the beach; reacquaint myself with my sewing machine; and make things alongside loved ones at the Aquinnah Cultural Center's "Culture Nights." I welcome all inquiries about meaningful dialogue and exchange.
My teaching, writing, and curatorial interests sit at the intersections of Native American and Indigenous studies; Black studies; social history; environmental history; geography; and visual and material culture studies, with an especial focus on the Northeast. My dissertation, "The Responsibility to Remain: Black Power and Red Power Geographies of Massachusetts" examined the spatial of imaginaries of Black, Indigenous, and Afro-Indigenous political actors during the "long" Black Power/Red Power Era. I am currently working on a book project that examines the complicated relationship between environmentalism and settler-colonialism in Wampanoag homelands and homewaters. My work has been deeply informed and supported by many, including friends and relatives; the Forge Project; the Center for the Humanities at Tufts; Trinity Social Justice Institute and the Ann Plato Dissertation Fellowship at Trinity College; the Harvard University Native American Program; the Mellon Sawyer Fellowship at Tufts University; and the Charles Warren Center for the Study of American History at Harvard University. You can find my individual and collective writing in: Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art; NAIS: Journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association; Boston Art Review; Motif Magazine; HowlRound Theatre Commons, and New England Museums Now.
A public-humanities practitioner and almost-art school kid, I am part-time Museum Coordinator for the Aquinnah Cultural Center, an organization whose mission is to "preserve, educate, and document the Aquinnah Wampanoag self-defined history, culture and contributions past, present and future." I also sit on the board of the Royall House and Slave Quarters, one of the last standing living quarters for enslaved persons in the US North; and on the advisory council for Tufts University Art Galleries' regional artist regranting program "Collective Futures Fund." I have also collaborated with Design Studio for Social Innovation (DS4SI); The Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University; Tufts University Art Galleries; the University of Arkansas School of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts-Boston; the Framingham History Center; and the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at Tufts University.
I split my time between Boston and Nôepe (the island commonly referred to as Martha's Vineyard), and in my spare time, I like to take walks; go to the beach; reacquaint myself with my sewing machine; and make things alongside loved ones at the Aquinnah Cultural Center's "Culture Nights." I welcome all inquiries about meaningful dialogue and exchange.